Katie Holmes braves split from Tom Cruise

KATIE Holmes emerged smiling yesterday as she was seen publicly for the first time since announcing her plans to divorce Tom Cruise.

Katie Holmes has put on a brave face since her split with Tom Cruise /wenn []

The actress, spotted leaving an office block in New York, even wore six-inch heels – a fashion choice she rarely adopted while out with her famously diminutive husband.

And Miss Holmes, 33, continued to cut ties with her estranged husband – even dumping her publicist.

She reportedly dismissed Ina Treciokas before re-employing Nanci Ryder and Leslie Sloane of the BWR agency, who represented her until her whirlwind romance and marriage to the Mission: Impossible star.

Roger Friedman, respected US showbusiness columnist, claimed the move could be seen only one way, saying: “This is a clear signal Holmes is repudiating her last seven years.”

Cruise’s connections with Scientology is cited widely as being one of the main reasons behind the split. The actor, 50 today and one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, has long been a prominent member of the Church of Scientology, which some describe as a cult.

This is a clear signal Holmes is repudiating her last seven years

Roger Friedman, respected US showbusiness columnist

Former Dawson’s Creek star Miss Holmes revealed last Friday she had filed for divorce and was seeking sole custody of the couple’s six-year-old daughter, Suri.

The actress is said to have filed for divorce in New York. It is thought she would have a better chance of getting sole custody there than in California, where Scientology has more influence.

Miss Holmes was raised as a Catholic. Suri is reaching the age where the Church of Scientology could play a role in the child’s education.

Cruise’s adopted daughter Isabella, now 19, attended Delphine, the Scientology high school in rural Oregon, a feeder school for the church’s Sea Organisation – an association of Scientologists established in 1968 by L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer and founder of Scientology.

Sea Org, as it is known, is where the highest levels of Scientology are taught and children as young as five can be sent to live – without their parents.

Citing “irreconcilable differences”, Miss Holmes has hired a top lawyer to end the five-year marriage.

The Church of Scientology has denied recent claims that its officials had been spying on Miss Holmes.

Cruise, who was filming in Iceland at the time of the announcement, appeared to have been surprised by her decision.

He was seen walking to a helicopter in Iceland yesterday.

A spokesman for him said: “Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children.”

Cruise adopted two children – Isabella and Connor, 17 – during the marriage to his second wife, Nicole Kidman. He had previously been married, at the end of the 1980s, to another actress, Mimi Rogers.